Australia’s right-wing Coalition government has lost power after nearly a decade in office. Saturday’s election indicates a definite shift to progressive parties that will see a Labor administration created — potentially with the assistance of climate-focused independents or Greens.

Within hours of votes closing, various election analysts said the ruling Coalition – led by Scott Morrison’s conservative Liberal party and the rural-based National party – could not hold the 76 seats it controlled, which is the minimum required to create a legislative majority.

Before 11 pm on Saturday, Morrison accepted defeat and declared he would resign as head of his party.

“We’ve seen in our own politics a great deal of disruption as the people have voted today with major parties having one of the lowest primary votes we’ve ever seen,” Morrison told supporters at his election night gathering in Sydney.

“I know about the upheaval that’s taking place in our nation. And I think it is necessary for our nation to heal and to move forward,” Morrison said.

The Labor opposition outperformed the Coalition, but by Saturday evening, it was not evident it could win a majority of seats to declare victory – which would have been it's first in an election since 2007.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese is considered to be the most likely to be able to form a government, with findings after four hours of vote counting showing he could require the backing of independent or minor party MPs to obtain a majority.

The biggest surprise out of the election was the spike in support for the Greens party. By Saturday evening, the party – which has struggled to gain more than the one seat it initially picked up more than a decade ago – was on course to win as many as three different hearts, all centered in progressive suburbs of Brisbane.

While both major parties were at pains throughout the campaign to not appear excessively ambitious on climate action, the memory of recent natural catastrophes across numerous states, including fatal bushfires and floods, resonated with inner-city voters.

Morrison’s Coalition lost many seats to the “teal independents” - candidates running in typically safe Liberal party seats on a solid climate action platform, some supported by considerable cash from the Climate 200 organization.

Many selected the hue teal, referring to the old Liberal blue and their green credentials, and fared well in seats in affluent suburbs of Melbourne and Sydney.

Early findings indicated the independent teal movement could have stolen as many as five seats from the government. If their leads solidify, it will spell a decimation of the moderate element of the Liberal party.

Liberal losses to these independents include notable government MPs, including the country’s treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, who seemed to have lost his rich Melbourne seat of Kooyong to independent Zoe Daniels, a former journalist.

During the campaign, several of those facing challenges from these MPs warned party members disgruntled with the Liberal party’s attitude on climate that their expulsion would only help drive the party further to the right.

Rather than changing policy to appeal to moderate Liberals concerned about climate, Morrison was believed to focus on voters in outer urban, regional, and mining seats, some previous Labor strongholds, others controlled by the Nationals.

Albanese, who made much of his roots as the child of a single mother in Sydney public housing throughout the campaign, is a party mainstay from Labor’s left side but far from a radical firebrand.

A near-fatal vehicle crash near his home last year helped him refocus his life, he says, and he has since made a point of his healthier diet and lifestyle while acceding to superficial image improvements.

But he has failed to inject inspiration into Labor’s campaign, which has limited its policy offering to a minimum after the ambitious plan of his predecessor, Bill Shorten, was virtually torn down by Morrison at the 2019 election.

After six hard weeks on the hustings, both leaders began election day with a last-minute campaign stop in marginal seats in Melbourne before going to Sydney to vote in the electorates they represent.